Sunken Spanish Ship Is Found With Treasure Worth $1.5 Billion And Will Soon Be Set In A Museum

Check the first glimpse of the wreck of the San Jose after a British warship near Columbia sunk it, years back. According to the President of Columbia, deep sea divers have found the wreck of the galleon which was with 600 people aboard when it sank.

It has been 300 years since the wreckage.

Upto 11 million gold coins, precious stones and emeralds were being carried by the ship.

In 1708, due to an attack by the Royal Navy, close to the walled port city of Cartagena in the Caribbean Sea, the ship submerged in the coast of Baru near the remote Rosario islands.

After a long search for decades, the Colombian authorities revealed the first pictures of a 300-year old Spanish ship wreckage that was found on Friday.

The Royal Navy sank the San Jose off the coast of Cartagena more than 300 years ago. It was popularly known as the 'holy grail' of shipwrecks, because one of the most valuable haul of treasure to have been lost at the sea ever, was being carried by the ship. The estimated value of the haul is found to be $1.5 billion though till now, no treasure has been brought to the surface yet.

Ahead of a planned salvage operation, a deep-sea camera was sent down by the experts for examining the wreckage of the ship.

According to the Colombian President, Mr. Santos, "as some say, it was one of the greatest - if not the biggest - discoveries of submerged patrimony in the history of mankind." Reports suggest that the wreck would get qualified as a UN underwater cultural heritage site.

Bronze cannons that were made specifically for the ceramics, ship, other artifacts and arms, have been spotted by sonar images.

The credits for discovering the wreck goes to the country's archaeology institute, a team of international experts and also, the Colombian Navy.

The ship would be salvaged and showcased in a museum as announced by the President of Columbia, Juan Manuel Santos, at a press conference on Saturday.

It was indeed a very important discovery in the recent years.

The valuable treasure in the wrecked ship makes it even more noteworthy.

Though it remained sunken for years, still the treasure didn't perish.

Spanish galleons sailed between Europe and America sometime between 16th and 18th century, laden with treasure.

Every year, on an average, two fleets of between 30 and 90 Spanish ships would sail to the American colonies from Sevilla (Seville). One - the Flota de Nova Espana - left for Vera Cruz (now Mexico), with ships detached to Honduras and the West Indies on the way, during spring. The other - Esquadron de Terra Firme - left for Porto Bello, on the Atlantic coast of Panama and Cartagena, Columbia, in August. The following spring both fleets met at Havana, after wintering in America and returned to Spain together.

Sir Charles Wager, English Commodore was trying to capture the crew and cargo of the Sapnish ship.

But, before he could do so, the ship was blown up leading to the sinking of the vessel while perishing all the member aboard.

The image below is of a press conference in Cartagena, Columbia on Saturday during which Director of the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, Ernesto Montenegro, is showing a picture of remains of galleon San Jose.

From Cartagena's naval base, Columbia's president Santos said on national television, "We will build a great museum here in Cartagena. Without a doubt, without room for any doubt, we have found, 307 years after it sank, the San Jose galleon."

San Jose galleon's wreck off Colombian coast is being scanned by the scientists.

A legal dispute between Sea Search Armada (SSA), a U.S. based salvage company and Columbia, centered around the subject of San Jose. According to SSA, it had located the ship's sinking area in 1981. There was an agreement between the government and the company that any proceeds from the wreckage would be split, but later it was clarified by the government that Columbia would own all the treasure and a U.S. court backed this view in 2011. Santos also added that until the completion of more investigations, further discussions will be done by few Government spokespeople. Whether the remains of the ship would be brought to dry land and how much are the remnants are some unclear facts.